Antananarivo, 30. maj, 2011 (IRIN): Befolkningen i Madagaskar er vant til at skulle betale for alt, når de kommer på hospitalet – og nu forværres sundhedssektoren yderligere.
Hospital patients in Madagascar are used to paying for everything from surgeon’s gloves and gauze to drips and syringes, but a protracted political and economic crisis has further weakened the public health sector and put cancer treatment out of reach for all but the lucky few.
Currently, just one cancer ward with 60 beds at the Joseph Ravoahangy Andrianavalona Hospital (HJRA) in the capital Antananarivo, is serving the entire population of nearly 20 million, and treatment there is well beyond the means of the majority of Malagasy, nearly 70 percent of whom live below the poverty line.
The March 2009 coup in which Andry Rajoelina, with the support of the military, deposed President Marc Ravalomanana, led to the suspension of numerous foreign aid and trade benefits on which the country was heavily reliant, particularly for the funding of social sectors. According to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the government has also significantly reduced its spending on health just as the economic crisis has depleted many families’ ability to pay for health care.
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